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Add markers

Add markers

A marker flags a specific timing location in a source file. You can append a marker with editing notes or other descriptive information. Additionally, when you output the source file to an H.264, MPEG-2, or MPEG-4 video format, each marker forces the creation of an I-frame. Added I-frames improve compression quality, but can increase overall file size. Compressor can create the following types of markers:

Chapter markers: Generate named index points and thumbnail images for DVDs, QuickTime movies, or video podcasts. You can also assign a URL to a chapter marker to have that URL appear during playback of a podcast. Chapter markers are also included in submissions to the iTunes Store as part of an iTunes Store Package. Chapter markers appear orange in the Compressor preview area.

Compression markers: Generate an I-frame, but do not generate thumbnails, chapter-track entries, or other metadata. Add them to a video if a section appears to have lower image quality than the surrounding frames. Compression markers appear blue in the Compressor preview area.

Edit/cut markers: Function identically to Compression markers. They are commonly used by compression artists to force an I-frame at an edit point to ensure higher image quality at that moment in the video. Edit/cut markers appear red in the Compressor preview area.

Podcast markers: Like chapter markers, Podcast markers can have artwork and a URL assigned to them. Podcast markers are usually used to provide a slideshow (with URLs) for users to view when playing audio podcasts. However, podcast marker names do not appear in the slideshow, and users cannot navigate to a podcast marker in the transcoded file. Podcast markers appear purple in the Compressor preview area.

Markers can be output when using settings based on the following formats:

An orange chapter marker appears in the source file’s timeline in the preview area.

To change the marker type, choose a different marker type from the Type pop-up menu in the Marker inspector.

Note: If the Marker inspector is not visible, make sure the marker is selected in the preview area and the Inspector button in the upper-right corner of the Compressor window is highlighted blue.

Specify properties for chapter and podcast markers

You can specify the properties of a chapter or podcast marker in the Marker inspector.

Note: A podcast can have both chapter markers and podcast markers. The only difference is that a viewer can navigate directly to a chapter marker but cannot navigate to a podcast marker.

Select a job in the batch area, then select a marker in the preview area.

In Marker inspector, choose either Chapter or Podcast from the Type pop-up menu.

Enter a name for the marker in the Name field.

During playback of a transcoded file, chapter marker names are displayed on Apple playback devices, in QuickTime Player, and in DVD menus. Podcast marker names are not displayed.

Enter a web address in the URL field.

When viewing the transcoded file, you can click the URL to open a web browser and view a website.

Select an image to be displayed at the marker point by choosing an option from the Image pop-up menu:

Frame: Uses the frame on which the marker is placed as the display image. To use a different frame in the source file, enter a different timecode value in the viewer that appears at the bottom of the Marker inspector.

File: Uses an image file that you select via the window that appears. To change the image file after you’ve already added it to the Marker inspector, click Choose, then select a different image file.

Add markers using a chapter marker list

You can create a list of timecode points (using values that match the timecode on the track’s video clip) and then import that list to create chapter markers.

The file containing the list of timecode points must follow these rules:

The list of timecode values must be a plain text file. For best results, create the list with TextEdit and save the files using the .chp or .txt extension.

Each marker must be on a new line that starts with a timecode value in the format 00:00:00:00.

After the timecode value, you can include a name for the marker. You can use a space or tab character to separate the timecode value from the marker name.

Any lines that do not begin with a timecode value are ignored. This makes it easy for you to add comments to the list.